Rescue Journal

An Isaac moment...

Jean  ·  Jan. 5, 2007

Or: Stuck in a snowy pasture with a dog that won't budge....

Charley, Isaac and I take a walk every morning (or at least every morning that I don't leave for work before dark) up the long narrow pasture behind the house. There's a hill at the end of the pasture, and a few weeks ago Isaac let me know he could no longer do the hill. He would simply stop in his tracks and not move until I turned around and headed back in the direction of the house.

But he still loves his little walk, and he runs to the pasture gate in anticipation as soon as I emerge from feeding Martin in the barn.

Today he is kinda tired and weak again, taking a couple of tumbles on the carpeted floor on the short trip from his bed to the door. But he still wanted to come for his walk, so off we went. Only this time he stopped long before the hill. And this time, he wouldn't turn around to head home. He stood there, and wobbled, and stood there, and wobbled, and stood there…and eventually sat down, still facing away from the house.

So, unable to coax him to move or to turn around, I sat down with him. And there we sat….in three inches of snow, with more covering us up, staring at the beautiful world around us.

It was a magical moment…...which lasted......and lasted..... and lasted. Twenty minutes later, Isaac could still not be tempted to get up and return home, I was getting wet and cold, and I had visions of dragging flu-y Carol out to help me get him back home.

Finally, just about the time I realized that the snow we were sitting on was covering a very large pile of alpaca poop, he spontaneously stood back up and plodded home like nothing was wrong.

I guess he just wanted a few moments to sit and ponder. Maybe we should all have our "Isaac moments".

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